Turkey is positioned as the geographic , economic and political bridge straddling both Asia and Europe . How Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan performs if he secures a first round victory in Sunday 's Presidential election will determine if this sizable emerging market can restore its luster as an engine for growth and a regional political force .

The scrappy former mayor of Istanbul came to power promising a new brand of Islam under the party he co-founded , the Justice and Development Party -LRB- AKP -RRB- : One that is pro-business and one that in the recent past juggled good relations with both Israel and Iran .

Economically speaking , Erdogan has delivered . Turkey enjoyed growth of 6-8 % for the better part of his first decade in power .

Gone are the days of hyper-inflation -LRB- although the latest reading of 9.3 % in July is not low -RRB- -- as well as the multiple zeroes at the end of lira notes -- thanks to the currency stability he introduced

The current prime minister became the darling of Fortune 500 companies , which took advantage of the European Union Customs Union offering lower export tariffs , and turned Turkey into a manufacturing hub for Europe .

Foreign direct investment surged ten-fold , from just $ 20 billion in 2001 to over $ 200 billion today . 3,300 international companies now call Turkey home according to UNCTAD .

But many believe this presidential election will not broaden democracy in Turkey , but only help Erdogan consolidate his grip on power in an effort to burnish his legacy .

`` Erdogan 's 12 month strategy is to engineer , de jure or de facto , as much of a transfer of power from the prime minister 's office to the presidential palace as he can , '' wrote Professor Henri Barkey of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania .

This strategy could dilute the role of the Turkish parliament and allow the president to hand-pick his successor as prime minister .

Those who are close to the current President Abdullah Gul tell me the moderate counter-weight to Erdogan will stay out of the political cross-fire and let this experiment to create a presidential system of government play out . But they say a successful transition is not a given .

But after suffering through a year of intense protests , a barrage of accusations and investigations linked to corruption at the top of his government and a challenge from afar by former ally , the Pennsylvania based religious leader Fethullah Gulen , Erdogan not only seems undeterred , but more emboldened than ever .

He has grand plans in the works : an expansion of the Istanbul airport to rival Dubai as the international transfer hub , a brand new bridge across the Bosphorus , and a 45 kilometer canal that will run parallel to that Strait .

In October last year , Erdogan proudly unveiled the Marmaray Link connecting Asia and Europe with an underground train network .

This infrastructure , he says , will also help sustain growth . Total GDP today is hovering at nearly $ 850 billion after a three-fold increase in ten years . That is projected to nearly double again by 2020 and Erdogan has set a goal for it to cross $ 2 trillion by 2023 , the centennial of the Turkish Republic . If achieved , Turkey would be in the top ten of global economies .

Fabled emerging market author Jim O'Neil , when at investment bank Goldman Sachs , selected Turkey as a `` Next 11 '' country -- one of the most promising for the next generation of growth .

Whether it can live up to those expectations will depend on prudent financial management , but also on how `` Team Erdogan '' conducts relations within the global investment community .

He and a few cabinet members have made a reputation for jawboning credit rating agencies when they make moves to downgrade the country 's debt rating . Moody 's was the latest to suffer the wrath of Ankara for treating the country `` unfairly . ''

It is not unusual for Erdogan to draw comparisons of his leadership to that of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , the founder of modern Turkey . He wants to secure his place in history .

Whether his desire to do so is ultimately good for his country remains the big unknown as Turks go to the polls .

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is campaigning to become the country 's president

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Turkey will chose its first directly elected president on Sunday

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John Defterios asks if Turkey can restore its luster as an engine for growth and a regional political force